KARACHI: Isn’t Salman Ahmad the same person who used to sing songs on stage with General (retd) Pervez Musharraf? When did he find his love for democracy? And while I totally condemn the killing of Shahzeb Khan and can understand that the killers may have used their feudal influence, the way Mr Ahmad has tried to link this killing with Bilawal and his feudal ancestry is a really poor effort to gain political sympathy for the PTI. I must mention here that I am neither for the feudal system nor am I in favour of dynastic politics. But the writer has tried to mislead readers by linking feudalism with the PPP.
First of all, it is a bitter truth that everyone in Pakistan who’s got some sort of power tries to influence the course of law. What if Shahzeb’s killers were spoilt sons of a military officer or a bureaucrat or some rich industrialist or sons of a judge — wouldn’t they have used their clout? And above all, what if Shahzeb’s killers were religious militants?
Second, can Mr Ahmad explain what would he call Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Jehangir Tareen of the PTI? Are they less than any feudal or has their ancestry changed after joining the PTI? Or does the writer only consider those as feudals who have Sindhi surnames? At the end, I stand by all those who demand that the killers of Shahzeb be brought to justice irrespective of their background; however, I vehemently disagree with the writer’s approach.
Shahzad Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2013.
